Cooking The Books

Each week the NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB's Cooking The Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's the tactics to use if you think you're underpaid. Hosted by Frances Cook.It’s a tough world out there trying to get a pay rise. Wages have been flat for a long time, and it only makes things worse if you’re already underpaid. Last year Harvard released research that debunked one of the biggest gender pay gap myths. Many people say women are paid less because they’re too timid, and don’t ask for a raise as often as men. Well, not true. It turns out, women ask for a raise just as often as men. But the women were successful 15 per cent of the time, while men were successful 20 per cent of the time. That’s a huge difference, and will really add up over your lifetime. Then only a few weeks ago, research from recruitment firm One Staff showed that female tradies in New Zealand were being paid 20 per cent less than the men they’re working alongside. That’s even worse than the average in New Zealand, alr